Life Is The Practice

Do not do a spiritual practice as if your life depended on it. Practice as if it is your life. Let it be empty. Let it be light. Let it be sweet. Let each moment be a mystery that brings you to the next moment.

Empty means without preconception. Without preconception means you are free to follow the natural course of life. The times you feel the most sweetness in your life are those times that are empty: You look at the baby and feel life is wonderful; you watch a dancer and are glad you are human; you learn something new and are completely satisfied by it in and of itself.

Our greatest spiritual practice is not yoga or prayer or meditation. It is life itself. And how we practice life tells us all. If you practice life in order to someday get good enough at it to really live, then you separate yourself from life in a profound way. But if your definition of life is that it has waves of up and down, joy and hardship, ease and discomfort, and if each day you practice empty of preconceptions, ready to wee what life brings, then you will be worthy of the concert stage. The instrument will be your own body, mind, and spirit. The audience will be all of the Buddhas and ordinary people who enjoy watching humans be themselves.